Gimlet Painting

Now here’s a neat little tool called a “Gimlet”. When I hear the word gimlet I’ve always thought of the drink, not that I even know what’s in that drink…just some old time concoction I suppose. Apparently when a hand auger/drill gets small enough craftsmen call it a gimlet and not an auger. I wonder what the threshold in size is where the name changes from auger to gimlet. Not to split hairs but this stuff always bugs me. I guess I like everything to have its place. Maybe the tools are structurally different, but as far as I can tell a gimlet is nothing more than a small auger.

Painting this tool required possibly the smallest selection of colors yet. The majority of the painting was painted using: raw umber, cobalt blue, burnt sienna, and a handful of grays, black and white…oil paints of course!

Although the gimlet was made of metal and wood they both were so close in value and hue. Yep, there’s a lot of brown going on in this painting which is fine by me. The rustic browns give the overall artwork a historical looking appeal which I think compliments the antique subject matter nicely.

The dryness of the aged wood handle had no sign of oiling or varnish on it. That kept the tool’s values that make up its form in a very narrow range. The metal shaft and bit were so old and thoroughly rusty there was no shiny spots what-so-ever. All of these properties lent a nice mellow quality to the gimlet painting that I enjoyed for a change. Most of the tools I paint are very old but each have a few shiny parts that showcase their presence. They tend to “pop”… The gimlet painting is different in this regard but I like it just the same.